The
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted from 1988 to 1994,
questioned the parents of 524 children of various races with moderate or severe
asthma and found:
* Only 26 percent of the children had taken daily maintenance medication for asthma within the last month.
* Even children who had been hospitalized on two or more occasions in the preceding year were not likely to be on proper maintenance drugs.
* At highest risk for inadequate therapy were children ages 5 and younger, those whose families relied on Medicaid insurance and those who spoke Spanish.
Note: A separate 1993 California study showed blacks were more likely to be
hospitalized, regardless of age, income or urban/rural residences.
